Like the console version, the premise of Fistful of Cake is simple. Players have to defend their princess while trying to capture their rival’s maiden. The game supports 8 players vs. 8 players online via ad hoc or infrastructure while the single-player mode lets gamers go against 23 other AI-controlled opponents.

Supervillain concentrated on improving the single-player experience because traveling around, players may not always have a reliable Internet connection. There are going to be more levels and scenarios as players unfamiliar with the game learn their roles as warriors, archers, mages, priests and workers. Overall, Matt Morton of Santa Monica Studios said there’s going to be 50 percent more content in addition to stuff in the original.

OK, I’m taking the bait here. Nothing got me more riled up than the Shadow Complex fiasco last week. The whole thing was rather ridiculous. So here’s me weighing on the issue about the issue.

“Controversy” is an over-used word. If a small group doesn’t like something and they express their outrage often enough on the Internet, then it can seem like anythign can be a controversy. For example, Ikea changed its font from Futura to Verdana, a fact that wouldn’t raise the eyebrow of most people I know. But it’s the select few who are up in arms about the change and that grabs the media attention. It may be an important issue to those font geeks, but it’s not exactly the fall of Western civilization compared to say health care reform or the war in Afghanistan. In fact, anyone concerned about a stupid font should readjust their priorities.

Give any malcontent a microphone and they can make a splinter seem like a crucifixition. That seems to be happening with some “controversies” in video games. The Fat Princess flap was overblown. While two feminist bloggers were appalled about the idea of feeding the titular characters cake until they grew obese, the rest of the gaming public didn’t seem to mind. They took the game’s quirky humor in stride and the downloadable game has enjoyed brisk sales since its release.

Again, “controversy” — that word has a funny way of popping up doesn’t it? — showed up again with the release of Shadow Complex. Apparently, a few people objected to the involvement of Orson Scott Card because of his anti-gay stance. Nevermind that he didn’t write the game nor did he have a direct role in its creation. Shadow Complex just happened to take place in a universe that Card created.

Thankfully, the apparent call to boycott didn’t have much of an effect. The game set an Xbox Live Arcade record for one week of sales and it’s received rave reviews from critics. Frankly, I don’t mind these groups having voices but what I do care about is the ridiculous attention the gaming media gives to these issues. Maybe this navel gazing is one of the growing pains as the medium matures.

But lately, there’s too much hysteria to every perceived “controversy,” too much hand-wringing when it comes to the smallest slight. The whole environment reminds me of sports talk radio, where anything an athlete or coach does sets a fireworks no matter how trivial. I’m just waiting for the flame wars.

Yes, it’s entertaining and I’m sure it generates a lot of clicks to mention a controversy (The newest one seems to be a complaint about using Kurt Cobain’s likeness in Guitar Hero 5.), but after a while, it gets inane, and it overshadows more important issues. What about a rising cost of games? Or what about stretching that gaming dollar in a bad economy? While some issues are important to some, members of the media should use more discretion when covering apparent “controversies” or better yet maybe we should save the word for things that really matter.